Reminders - Blog Posts

Tip/reminder:

What I’ve learned in the past month is to cut toxic people out of your life and do what makes you happy!! If your friends want to do one thing but you know that its not going to benefit you but actually make your life more stressful and worrisome, then don’t do it!! Do what’s best for you! Deep down, you know what’s best for you. And yes it’s hard to do but I know you can do it. And once you do, you’ll realize how much of a positive impact it makes. Same goes for with “friends”. If you have one or a few that or toxic, deep down you’ll know it and let them go. It’s for the best. Self worth is always a #1 priority!! And once you understand that, you can start helping and inspiring others.

soft reminder: it’s ok if you’re overwhelmed! there’s no need to look too far ahead. ask yourself, what can you do today? even five minutes will be good. slowly but surely, you will get there. every time you try, it will add up more than you even know!! you can do it ✨

PSA: Aphrodite isn't just romantic love, the ancient Greeks had 7 words for love!

eros: your typical love, romance, sex, all that. typically what Aphrodite is known for.

philautia: self-love (which is SO SO important!)

storge: parental love, the bond that parents and children have with each other.

ludus: playful love - banter, teasing, flirting as a joke with your friends.

pragma: longstanding love, that is built upon trust and respect for one another. can be any type of relationship.

xenia: hospitality, a love and care for strangers and the people around you.

agape: true, unconditional love. the love everyone should aim to feel for others and to let others feel for them.

Lady Aphrodite is all of this! She tends to like hearing about relationships (in my experience), and She's always willing to lend some advice!

And you should, as the core of it all, let go of expectations for your Deities. Let go of what you’ve consumed from the books, let go of authorities, let go of explanations, let go of the neatness - and embrace chaos. Embrace the wilderness which is in itself God, call a name and wait for an answer. What voice sounds like home?

Gods will come multifaceted, iridescent, impalpable. Gods will break rules and expand where a mind burdened by expectations can’t follow. A chimera of a myriad faces might not want to always show only one side. Gods will change. Gods will surprise.

If the nature is untamed, so are its Deities. The wilderness has many names for each of them, a prism to choose a side of. Feeling over explaining, embracing over conforming, preparing over expecting.

I think it's really important in deity worship that you just do it. Sometimes when I'm feeling uninspired I can't feel the gods around me. But it's still important work to be done. Today I did yoga to get my body moving and prayed to Atum for creativity and motivation. I gave little lettuce wraps but I didn't feel anything profound. Deity worship doesn't always feel highly spiritual. Sometimes it's just going through the motions and making sure that you act the way that you promised. I think it's really damaging to say that you need to feel something every time you engage with spirit.

My faith in the gods comes in waves. There are times when I feel so dedicated, so full of love that I get emotional just thinking about the gods. Then there are other times where I feel so disconnected to them that they may as well solely be the statues on their altars - unknowable.

I've come to realize that it's ok for my faith to be so inconsistent. It's not required for us to have 100% of our faith 100% of the time. The gods understand that, like most things in life, faith comes in wave, receding back just to return in full force soon after.

So, it's ok if you feel disconnected. It's ok if you feel faithless. Give yourself time, and things will improve.

This post is for the person who grew up learning no one would help them so they had to do things on their own, who doesn't want to burden people with their problems, who feels like they should be able to handle things on their own, who is having a hard time, who is depressed, who feels alone and like the Gods are far away.

Sometime we're the ones who put that distance between ourselves and the Gods without even realizing it. It can feel silly to pray sometimes, especially if it's over something we think isn't a big deal, but They still want to hear from us, especially if we're struggling.

I just feel like it's very important to talk about the bad shit, too.

That you might face difficulties on your path, that there will be hours-days-weeks-months of silence - or can be, at the very least - and that religion won't come as a panacea for every issue or as a magical pill. You might still feel lost, and hurt, and scared, and lonely; and you might still hold faith. Not that you should, it's up to you. But the point is, "having faith" is not a synonym to "never having anything bad happen, ever" while encountering issues of any degree is not necessarily a proof of an uncaring God.

genuinely people act like working with both angels (and other similar figures) and demons is some sort of almighty wrong for both parties

but may i gently suggest that they're less about being at each other's throats all the time and more about understanding that someone's spirituality can be extremely complex?

idk, i genuinely believe both demons and angels are above the idea of "pick a side". if someone wants to work with angels and demons, i don't think it's going to be this almighty attack on who they work with

you really don't have to complicate things any further than saying a person can work with two different entities. whether it's angels, demons, saints, gods, spirits... they're not gonna hate you for working with two or more different kinds of spirits out there. they really aren't.

hot take but don’t “blessed be”, “my gods are blessing you”, “i will pray for you to my gods” ANYONE unless they explicitly ask for it or have said it is okay.

if some christian came up to you and said “god bless you. i’ll pray for you” there’s a 98% chance you’d feel uncomfortable so why is it okay for you to do the same thing to someone else just because you don’t worship the christian god?

*punches the air* i love gods of complexity! *does a kick flip* i love gods that don't automatically fall into "does no wrong" and "only does wrong" categories *does a handstand* no purely good or evil for me! i want more reflections of us as humans! we are capable of love and hatred, construction and destruction, and so are the gods! *turns into a dragon and spits out a jet of flame* being complex does not mean we should give up trying to understand or venerate them! respect people who also want gods like this in their lives!

Even if you can’t hear your deities, they hear you

Even if you can’t see your deities, they see you

Even if you can’t feel your deities, they’re there and they love you

I almost went to sleep, but then Hermes said this:

"Avoiding your gods because you feel unworthy is the beginning of a downward spiral. We improve what we touch, and make worthy those whom we love."

So, if you got there in your head, too, just an FYI.

dont romanticize the sadness. just let it exist plainly, like it did when you were a very young child, when you werent old enough to give it baggage. you'll find it's more devastating and cleansing that way

you think you’re waiting for love to find you when in reality it has saved you in a thousand different ways since the sun rose today

"do not be friends or enemies with evil people. coal burns your hand when hot, blackens your hand when cold."

Jamie Anderson/Glennon Doyle Melton, Love Warrior

Grief and love are interconnected

shaking six year old me by the shoulders YOU WERE RIGHT. YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT LOVE AND ABOUT FAIRNESS AND ABOUT SHARING IS CARING. YOU WERE RIGHT. THE ADULTS DON’T KNOW ANY MORE ABOUT TRUTH THAN YOU DO. KEEP BELIEVING IN THE FAIRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN. NOTHING IS “JUST THE WAY IT IS”. I AM SORRY THEY EVER CONVINCED YOU TO FEEL SHAME. YOU ARE REAL AND A PART OF THIS WORLD. YOU WERE RIGHT.

for anyone who needs to hear it 💫

Simone Biles saying “Mental health is more important than sports” on the biggest platform she could have possibly done it from is why she’s incredible, actually

your bare minimum isn’t actually that bare or minimum. my dad once told me that there’s nothing in this world that’s easy and that’s true tbh. everything we do takes energy, time, and effort. even the little things. if you feel like you’re not doing enough please try to think about your circumstances and what’s currently available to you: chances are, there’s something that’s diverting or otherwise draining you. and to pull away from that and get something done regardless? well, i think that’s really admirable! please try to take pride in the things you do accomplish in a day, no matter how small or trifling you perceive them to be. you can’t be proud of your growth if you don’t notice where you already are!

Things that don’t make you a bad person:

Displaying “scary” symptoms of mental illness

Being diagnosed with multiple disorders

Having one or various personality disorders

Being diagnosed with NPD, BPD, or ASPD

Having very low empathy, or no empathy

Having symptoms that cause anger, emptiness, or paranoia

Having triggers or “strange” personal boundaries

Needing extra help or accommodations

Having intrusive thoughts about upsetting or scary topics

Credit: Ashley McMinn

Even if you don't think/know that you have [disorder] (or even if you know you don't!) you're allowed to use coping strategies meant for or associated with that disorder. You can use ADHD tips for your poor memory. You can stim even if you're not autistic (stimming has a lot of overlap between disorders honestly). You can use chronic fatigue tips if you have depression. You're not stealing resources. If it helps you, it helps you, whether you were the target audience or not

if you feel like your bipolar doesnt present in the same way as other people’s its okay. 

if you feel like you dont relate to other people with bipolar disorder its okay.

if you feel like you dont experience symptoms that you “should” or you do experience symptoms that you “shouldnt” its okay.

youre not secretly faking. 

bipolar disorder is a complex mental illness that wont look the same on everyone. whatever it looks like on you is a normal way for bipolar disorder to look. you’re valid and loved and welcome in our community. 

friendly reminder that bipolar ii isnt the “easy,” “soft,” or “lesser” bipolar disorder. just because we dont experience full-on mania doesn’t mean our experiences are somehow invalid. 

hypomania has the power to ruin relationships. 

depression has the power to ruin lives. 

we end up hospitalized for depression. 

we’re more likely to rapid cycle and contrary to popular belief, our depression can cause psychosis 

our suffering is real and cant be discounted solely because we experience a lesser form of mania. 

reminders for dealing with intrusive thoughts:

you are not your intrusive thoughts, they don't make you an awful person (i promise)

your fear and disgust towards your intrusive thoughts shows you acknowledge that those things are bad, therefore you'd most likely never act on them

you are not dangerous or disgusting or "insane"

you are not alone

it will be okay

your loved ones will be okay

you will be okay

Sometimes it’s not our fault. Most of the time we do it unconsciously, and we simply forget basic things we need to do in order to keep our body in a healthy state while being busy taking care of our brains and working it constantly for our assignments, exams, and so on. Still, remembering to do a few things every now and then every day, or pushing yourself to create new and uncomplicated habits can help you immensely on the long run - by making sure we’re healthy, we’re making it easier for our brain to retain information and focus for a longer period of time.

This post contains a few tips followed by a series of resources that will helpfully aid you get your healthy habits on track! 

Drinking more water

This might not be a priority while you’re revising for your subjects, but while it won’t take you more than a few seconds every now and then to take a sip or two from your water bottle, it can also bring you a bunch of benefits. You’re losing great amounts of water every day, so you need to   replace it by drinking it back - it will help you think more clearly, relieve fatigue and keep concentrated.

It can be hard if you’re not used to it, so you can start small, with 1 liter a day (33 oz).

Try to slowly increase you intake to 2 liters (which is about eight 8-ounce glasses of water, and hence why people say you should drink about 8 glasses of water per day)

Keeping a water bottle with you to track your intake is the best way to go about it!

Using apps such as the Drink Water app is really useful so you remember throughout the day how much you’ve drank and how much you still have left. This app is my favorite but is only available for iOS, but there are tons of similar apps for any kinds of devices out there!

Eating healthier

You don’t need to change your entire diet overnight and suddenly start incorporating veggies to every meal (but, if you already do, great!), but you can always do a few things that will slowly improve your diet without having to spend a lot of money or having to learn how to cook complex recipes. 

Try switching soft drinks during meals with water more often - this way you’ll also help achieving your daily water intake goal faster

You don’t have to stop eating junk food - just leave it for the weekend

If you don’t have a lot of time to prepare meals, instead of eating instant food like ramen all the time, try healthier alternatives such as sandwiches which are really easy to prepare and that can contain a bunch of nutritional ingredients

Another idea for students who don’t have a lot of time to prepare meals, you could try meal prepping (further reading + resources on this bellow)

Use your favorite fruits as your quick, to-go snack instead of processed snacks

Meal Prep 101

38+ Meal Prep Easy Ideas

19 Healthy Sandwiches with 5 Ingredients or Less

Exercising

By exercising I don’t mean that you have to start going to the gym a few times a week or going for a run every day. However, moving your body a little more every week can help you tremendously. Exercising can help reduce anxiety and stress and increases your energy levels. By increasing you heart rate, you’re aiding the flow of oxygen and blood to your brain, and it later can help you relax and improve your sleep, too. There’s a few easy ways that you can start moving around more without having to go hardcore or even leaving your home: 

Try pilates! There are so many quality youtube channels online that have great videos on apartment-friendly pilates workouts, and most of them are pretty quick too

Yoga is also a good alternative - it works your muscles and flexibility and there are a bunch of yoga routines that have the aim of specifically helping with anxiety, stress, insomnia, and other things you might be going through because of school

If you’re not a fan of running, you can always try power-walking (or just regularly walking, if you prefer) around your neighborhood or at the gym for an hour or so, every day or a few days a week

If you wish to join and gym and complete full, heavy workouts but don’t find the time to do so, remember that exercising two days a week for an hour - or even less than that - can also bring you benefits and you don’t have to sacrifice a lot of time. By keeping a healthy diet throughout the week and working out two days a week, you can also achieve your fitness goals without compromising your school time!

Youtube Channel: blogilates (pilates)

Youtube Channel: POPSUGAR Fitness (pilates)

Youtube Channel: Yoga with Adriene (for yoga, obviously - one of my fave channels!)

Improving your sleep

Sleep has a major influence in our day since it affects our mood and our energy levels. If you have trouble falling asleep at night, here are some tips: 

Bit obvious, but don’t consume caffeine drinks later in the day, even if you have to stay up a little bit later to complete an assignment - once you’re done and ready to sleep, you’ll find that you can’t! 

You can power-naps, but remember to keep them short (not longer than 30min) and not frequent

Try to keep a consistent sleeping pattern - your body will get used to it if you start going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day

Don’t use your phone/computer before going to sleep. Try to stop using your devices an hour before going to bed, because the bright lights might affect your sleep. If absolutely necessary, turn on the night shift on your phone, and you can also download F.lux for your device, which automatically “warms up” your computer display as it gets nearer to your bedtime, so the blue lights exposure is not present and therefore doesn’t hurt your eyes.

If you think you’re suffering from insomnia or any other kind of sleep disorders, please seek professional help - this way you can treat it clinically if necessary

Having fun and relaxing

Getting away from our work every now and then is an important step to keep motivated and focused. If you only study and revise every day, even if breaks, but don’t have any distractions, hobbies or other “light" ways to spend your time, please consider taking some time off for yourself. This will help you avoid burnout, and you’ll be able to keep on track for longer! 

Going out every weekend with your friends is not a bad thing. Outings one day per week won’t harm you, as long as you don’t have anything crazily important for the start of the following week.

On the same note, socializing is very important for our mental health, so make sure you’re in contact with your family and friends and meeting them every now and then, in case it’s something you forget to do

Choose a specific part of your day to have a longer break so you have the time to work on a hobby, watch your favorite TV show, or even take the time to prepare a full meal! Anything you consider pleasurable and relaxing other than academic-related things

Taking part in clubs with other students might also be a great way of working on your academic life while having fun with other people - it can be something related to sports, arts, and so on!

Relaxing is also important - choosing one day of the week to wake up a little bit later or do something else that will help you relieve stress is essential to avoid burnout

Hope this has been helpful! :-)

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on the way to the bathroom, you're russian. when you're in the bathroom, european. when you come out, you are finnish. ;)))